Maine Expands Legislative Lobbying Law to Executive Branch

Earlier this year, Maine Governor John Baldacci signed into law two bills that make several changes to the state's lobbying and ethics laws. Most notably, Maine's lobbying laws now require the reporting of legislative lobbying contacts with constitutional officers and other officials of the executive branch.
Specifically, the state expanded the definition of "lobbying" to include not only communications with officials in the legislative branch, but also (1) communications with an official in the executive branch or with a constitutional officer, if the conversation concerns legislative action; and (2) communications with the Governor or the Governor's cabinet and staff for the purpose of influencing the approval or veto of a legislative action. Nevertheless, the new law (former H.P. 776) still requires the lobbying contacts to be about legislative action in order to be reportable; other executive branch activity is not covered.

A separate bill (former H.P. 928) signed into law by the Governor requires independent agencies and certain quasi-governmental organizations to develop their own internal code of ethics.